tl;dr
The Database Directive is suddenly “up for grabs”, European news media
publishers split over internal differences and France might soon live to
see a Freedom of Panorama exception.
This and past reports: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
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Digital Single Market Report: After the Commission announced that it will
announce (repetition intended) a digital reform package [1] mid-2016, the
European Parliament adopted a report on its own strategy this month. [2]
The highlights are a wish for open access for publicly funded research
(102.), a general preference for open government data by default (105.), a
recommendation to abolish the so-called “Database Directive” (108.) and a
call to promote CC Licenses in education and public procurement (119.).[3]
-----------------
Database Directive: This “gem” of European legislation grants additional
protection to databases, similar to but on top of copyright. The main pain
points are that exceptions aren’t harmonised, the threshold needed for
protection is not clearly defined and it potentially allows an eternal
protection period. After a EP majority asked for the file to be reviewed
and the European Commission itself has produced a very critical evaluation
[4], we’re now looking into viable policy options that would benefit Free
Knowledge projects.
-----------------
Consultations on liability: The deadline for a DG Connect consultation on
platforms liability and pretty much everything else was beginning of
January. The important message to get out was that collaborative online
projects would have a really hard time existing if they were held directly
liable for all the content added by users.[5] The EU policy group entered
an almost full set of answers. This was complemented by a letter from WMF
legal. [6] Meanwhile, DG Competition started its own consultation on IPR
enforcement, mirroring many of the questions already asked in the first
one. [7] The deadline is 14 April and a similar participation strategy is
foreseen.
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New Commissioner on the block: Launching overlapping consultations is not
only an effective way to demonstrate lack of coordination, but also tells
us that a new DG is working on the dossier. The Digital Single Market
initiative so far has been handled by Vice-President Ansip and Commissioner
Oettinger, who seem to have reached an impasse. Adding DG Competition’s
Commissioner Věra Jourová to the team [8] creates a new group dynamic. It
might indeed be President Juncker’s best chance to break the stalemate
without interfering himself. Meetings with her cabinet are now much harder
to get, but this should be priority anyway.
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Geoblocking seems to be, next to a copyright, the second main focus of the
Commission’s reform plans. [9] They however are not talking about removing
geoblocks altogether. Instead, the idea is to allow you to consume services
that you are subscribed to across the EU. With other words, you will be
able to use Netflix everywhere, but YouTube videos and online TV streams
remain untouched. In theory, if the Satellite and Cable Directive, which
allows broadcasting across the Union even if rights are cleared only
nationally, was to be extended to online streaming, that would solve a
large part of the problem. This can be done either by the EU legislator or
by the courts. The Commission does “threaten” with such a move in case the
industry continues to block the initiative.
-----------------
News Media Split: ENPA, the European Newspaper Association [10] is one of
the more conservative actors in Brussels when it comes to progressive
copyright reform. Instead they have always been more keen on extending IP
rights by introducing ancillary copyright. End of 2015 a considerable
amount of their members decided to split and form a new association called
News Media Europe. [11] At their launch event I was left with the
impression that they want to be more future-oriented and less of a
“blocking actor”.[12] Perhaps they will even refrain from asking for
ancillary copyright? [13]
-----------------
French panorama: Wikimédia France has run a very effective campaign pushing
for a Freedom of Panorama exception. The French proposal for a Digial Act
(Loi pour une République numérique) is now in their National Assembly, the
lower house of their legislative body. [14] The Culture Committee endorsed
a full exception, something the Legal Affairs committee did not like very
much. Finally, a compromise was struck to pass a non-commercial exception
only. [15] Even so, this is huge for France! Next step in the legislative
process is the Senate. Even a NC FoP would be of great news for us in
Brussels, as it would force the French government to recalibrate its
position. They have until now just repeated the credo “no new exceptions”.
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[1]http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-6262_en.htm
[2]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/20160114IPR09903/Stop-geo-b…
[3]
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference…
[4]
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/docs/databases/evaluation_rep…
[5]
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/news/public-consultation-regulatory-…
[6]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Platforms_Consultation
[7]
http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_…
[8]http://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/jourova_en
[9]https://twitter.com/EU_Commission/status/674553002624196608
[10]http://www.enpa.be/en/Home_1.aspx
[11]
http://www.enpa.be/en/news/press-statement--brussels-th-december---members-…
[12]https://twitter.com/dimi_z/status/691966292925009920
[13]https://twitter.com/dimi_z/status/691967431447830528
[14]https://www.republique-numerique.fr/
[15]
http://blog.wikimedia.fr/aujourdhui-adoption-de-la-liberte-de-panorama-en-f…
In case anyone hasn't seen this…
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Lisette Kalshoven <lk(a)kl.nl>
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 at 11:05
Subject: [Edri-ip] Invitation: Commune Public Domain Day in EP on Jan 25th
(hosted by Julia Reda)
To: <edri-ip(a)mailman.edri.org>
Dear all,
I would like to invite you to the public domain day celebration lunch we
are organising as COMMUNIA in the EP. The event is hosted by EP Julia Reda.
Together we will discuss copyright reform and the value of the public
domain. We have invited creators who use and re-use public domain works to
share about their experiences with copyright.
Blogpost on COMMUNIA site:
http://www.communia-association.org/2015/12/18/invitation-to-public-domain-…
Invitation flyer:
http://www.communia-association.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Invitation-t…
We hope some of you will be able to join us on the 25th in Brussels,
Please feel free to share the invitation in your networks,
With kind regards,
Lisette Kalshoven
--
Kennisland | www.kl.nl | t +31205756720 | m +31613943237 | s
lisette.kalshoven
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Dear all,
This is a soft reminder that the deadline for Wikimania 2016 submissions is
now 15 January.
https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions
The so-called "digest speaker" for public policy will be Alek Tarkowski
from Creative Commons, Centrum Cyfrowe & Communia.
Cheers,
Dimi